Sudhanshu Gangwar
Reviewed on Sep 12, 2025(Enrolled 2022)What Students Say
Likes
- First and foremost is the affordable tuition fee which is called "Semester contribution" in Germany. During my time it was somewhere around 340 euros per month for my university. But this is totally worth it as with this you get a student ID with which you can access the publica transport free of cost in the city and even someone of the regional trains called RE in lower saxony region.
- Another thing is the "Mensa facility" which is Indian equivalent of mess/dining services. Here in mensa all students along with the faculties can get fresh and hot breakfast and lunch (as till operate till 3 PM) at very subsidized and affordable prices (considering international students).
- Diverse culture and gender diversity, you will find people from all part of the world including Europe, Asia, Australia, and the US. This is a fantastic opportunity to make connection and learn different culture as well. these connection will help you in future to grow as an individual on both personal and professional.
Dislikes
- Location of my department (Mechanical Engineering) it is a bit far from city centre (around 15-20 mins by tram/bus). Though the building new is quite advanced and close to nature but for me i felt it is a bit isolated. After working hours you will not be able to find a lot of people around. So pro-tip is take accommodation near city centre so you can have a good social life.
- Your social life outside the university and up to an extent in the university highly depends on your proficiency in the local language (German). Since Hanover is a small town not a lot of people talk in English outside of university.
- There is no concept of campus placement (unlike India) so once you graduate you are at your own to find the job (here the language and your connection can help)
Course Curriculum
8
- Most of the master-level courses are moderate to difficult level so if you do not follow properly, chances are you will fail and you will have to reappear in the exam and this is very common in some advanced-level courses; almost 50% of the class will fail. So the only solution is to be sincere and follow through; otherwise, you will take extra time to finish your degree.
- (I have personally seen such people who got their master's degree in 4 years' time; a part-time job is also another reason which causes extension, as in that case you devote fewer hours to your studies). The courses will be highly industry relevant and most of them are practical with a bit of a touch of theory.
- Positive aspect is the industry relevance so once you finish a course, you are actually proficient with a skill set that will help you in getting a relevant job. And the negative is that a lot of interesting courses were in the German language. So, if you don't know the language, then you will not be able to follow.
- So you will typically have one or at most two classes in a week for a subject and each session is around 3 hours long.
- It varies course to course in English language taught courses. the number can be as high as 30 but it depends; you can assume 20-30 persons in a class.
- It was around 20-30% of total strength.
Admission Experience
- I applied to Leibniz Universität Hanover and Technical Universität Dresden.
- I Got accepted into both (I chose Leibniz universität Hanover).
- I received confirmation from Leibniz universität Hanover and TU Dresden
- Not applicable in my case. But usually if you take care of the process sincerely and put in a complete application, even with average credentials, you can make it. But this is just my observation from the people around
- For me, I wanted to work with additive manufacturing so I chose the group, as it was well known with advanced facilities.
- Process keeps on changing but for me it was applying to university and DAAD as I was on a fellowship. this keeps on changing so the updated process can be found on the respective university website.
- There is no such strict requirement of IELTS or GMAT. If you have completed your bachelor's degree in English, that is sufficient for master's degree admission.
- It was smooth but please be ready for a lot of paperwork that you cannot escape, especially in Germany.
- I applied in the fall intake, as my scholarship was for that specific period so I had no other factor to decide; i had to opt for that intake in order to receive my fellowship.
- For me the admission process started in March and I was there in person by September. (this includes everything from submitting the application and then reviewing the application, the outcome of the fellowship award and then visa processing).
Faculty
8
- It varies from 1-20 to 1-30 but there will be Teaching assistants (2-4) per course and in some cases a course in total is handled by a group of professors.
- Teaching methodology is good with a focus on practical applications but securing a job depends on different skill sets you have developed over the course of your programme through projects, courses and thesis.
- For me, my Supervisor (Prof. Roland Lachmayer) and my PhD mentor (Dr. Tobias Biermann). The one thing I like about both of them is they have complete freedom to explore and they are always open to having discussions.
Campus Life
8
- Leibniz university is spread all across the town but two main campuses are one near the city centre, where all the major departments are based and one in garbsen where Mechanical Engineering is based.
- During my time the Garbsen campus was quite new so the sports and library facilities were not there. I'm not sure about now. But on the main campus you have all the facilities (no winter outdoor sports). During orientation you will have lot of events from the university and student organizations, and several other events also happen throughout the year, such as Halloween etc.
Part Time Jobs
- There is no such TA or RA concept at Leibniz university. You can do your internship and master's thesis in industries or labs and that depends on the organisation if they pay you or not.
- Hanover is a very small town so the on-campus jobs are almost zero until you find a research project that you can do and your prof. agrees to pay you some money.
- As far as I know, 20 hours/week on my own student visa.
- Very difficult to find part-time jobs (except amazon warehouse and food delivery) in Hanover, both on and off campus.
- I was not allowed to do part-time due to my scholarship. Part-time jobs in hanover are difficult to find. i am not really sure of the process but i assume there will be some portal where you can apply online or your friends can refer you if they have connections but still the usual trend is that it is difficult to get part-time employment.
Placement
4
- It varies from case to case; some people get it just after the completion and some do not get it at all and they return back to the home country. A common case is of my friend; he did his thesis with one company and they offered him a full-time job. But this is not a frequent case; in most cases it can take up to 6 months to land a good job.
- I am not sure but this depends on the job profile. I went for my PhD after completion.
- As mentioned earlier, there is no concept of campus placement; here you are on your own to find a job. the university's responsibility is to transfer the knowledge and equip you with the skill sets.
- For mechanical engineering graduates Volkswagen and similar automobile companies can be targeted, but they do not come for campus placement. you have to make your way somehow.
Accommodation
Off Campus
10
- I went through an agency called Studentenwerk; I would recommend this, as it is cheap and especially for international students.
- For me the monthly rent was around 300 euros a month back in 2022 but it must have increased; you can expect around 600 euros for a good studio in hanover.
- The thing with accommodation is, it is very difficult to get with studentenwerk. So the suggestion is to book as early as possible after you receive the confirmation of your admission.
- It is not that far; if you are based on the main campus, you can reach it in 2-3 mins by tram/bus but if you are based in mechanical engineering, it will take you 15-20 mins to reach from the city centre. Another option is to have an accommodation near Mechanical engineering campus, depending on your liking.
Exams
- As such, there is not an IELTS/TOEFL requirement as such as long as you are able to prove your English proficiency via any means.
- For example, if you have English as a subject in your 10+2, you are eligible to apply for the Bachelor courses and for admission to the master's program, you need to prove that you finished your bachelor's degree where the medium of instruction was English.
Fees
- For me, since I was there for a semester for my thesis, I paid the usual semester contribution, which was around 350 euros back then. This is the same for each semester. this does not include the rent of the accommodation and food. For accommodation you can rent a private flat or even go with a student agency called "Studentenwerk". Usually they offer cheap accommodations.) (for me it was 300 Euros permonth).
- For me it was around max. 1000 euros per month, including everything excluding the semester contribution.
Scholarship
- Yes, I was a DAAD KOSPIE fellow. I am not sure about the criteria now but at that time it was pointer-based, 8.5 and above, please refer the website for updated criteria.
- I was receiving 850 euros a month for the seven-month duration.
- Yes, a few people got that award whom I personally know.
- Not sure of the number but those scholarships are a bit scarce, so you need to have good academic credentials.
